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Diffstat (limited to 'drivers/char/ftape/README.PCI')
| -rw-r--r-- | drivers/char/ftape/README.PCI | 81 |
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diff --git a/drivers/char/ftape/README.PCI b/drivers/char/ftape/README.PCI deleted file mode 100644 index 18de159d36e0..000000000000 --- a/drivers/char/ftape/README.PCI +++ /dev/null | |||
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| 1 | Some notes for ftape users with PCI motherboards: | ||
| 2 | ================================================= | ||
| 3 | |||
| 4 | The problem: | ||
| 5 | ------------ | ||
| 6 | |||
| 7 | There have been some problem reports from people using PCI-bus based | ||
| 8 | systems getting overrun errors. | ||
| 9 | I wasn't able to reproduce these until I ran ftape on a Intel Plato | ||
| 10 | (Premiere PCI II) motherboard with bios version 1.00.08AX1. | ||
| 11 | It turned out that if GAT (Guaranteed Access Timing) is enabled (?) | ||
| 12 | ftape gets a lot of overrun errors. | ||
| 13 | The problem disappears when disabling GAT in the bios. | ||
| 14 | Note that Intel removed this setting (permanently disabled) from the | ||
| 15 | 1.00.10AX1 bios ! | ||
| 16 | |||
| 17 | It looks like that if GAT is enabled there are often large periods | ||
| 18 | (greater than 120 us !??) on the ISA bus that the DMA controller cannot | ||
| 19 | service the floppy disk controller. | ||
| 20 | I cannot imagine this being acceptable in a decent PCI implementation. | ||
| 21 | Maybe this is a `feature' of the chipset. I can only speculate why | ||
| 22 | Intel choose to remove the option from the latest Bios... | ||
| 23 | |||
| 24 | The lesson of this all is that there may be other motherboard | ||
| 25 | implementations having the same of similar problems. | ||
| 26 | If you experience a lot of overrun errors during a backup to tape, | ||
| 27 | see if there is some setting in the Bios that may influence the | ||
| 28 | bus timing. | ||
| 29 | |||
| 30 | I judge this a hardware problem and not a limitation of ftape ;-) | ||
| 31 | My DOS backup software seems to be suffering from the same problems | ||
| 32 | and even refuses to run at 1 Mbps ! | ||
| 33 | Ftape will reduce the data-rate from 1 Mbps to 500 Kbps if the number | ||
| 34 | of overrun errors on a track exceeds a threshold. | ||
| 35 | |||
| 36 | |||
| 37 | Possible solutions: | ||
| 38 | ------------------- | ||
| 39 | |||
| 40 | Some of the problems were solved by upgrading the (flash) bios. | ||
| 41 | Other suggest that it has to do with the FDC being on the PCI | ||
| 42 | bus, but that is not the case with the Intel Premiere II boards. | ||
| 43 | [If upgrading the bios doesn't solve the problem you could try | ||
| 44 | a floppy disk controller on the isa-bus]. | ||
| 45 | |||
| 46 | Here is a list of systems and recommended BIOS settings: | ||
| 47 | |||
| 48 | |||
| 49 | Intel Premiere PCI (Revenge): | ||
| 50 | |||
| 51 | Bios version 1.00.09.AF2 is reported to work. | ||
| 52 | |||
| 53 | |||
| 54 | |||
| 55 | Intel Premiere PCI II (Plato): | ||
| 56 | |||
| 57 | Bios version 1.00.10.AX1 and version 11 beta are ok. | ||
| 58 | If using version 1.00.08.AX1, GAT must be disabled ! | ||
| 59 | |||
| 60 | |||
| 61 | |||
| 62 | ASUS PCI/I-SP3G: | ||
| 63 | |||
| 64 | Preferred settings: ISA-GAT-mode : disabled | ||
| 65 | DMA-linebuffer-mode : standard | ||
| 66 | ISA-masterbuffer-mode : standard | ||
| 67 | |||
| 68 | |||
| 69 | DELL Dimension XPS P90 | ||
| 70 | |||
| 71 | Bios version A2 is reported to be broken, while bios version A5 works. | ||
| 72 | You can get a flash bios upgrade from http://www.dell.com | ||
| 73 | |||
| 74 | |||
| 75 | To see if you're having the GAT problem, try making a backup | ||
| 76 | under DOS. If it's very slow and often repositions you're | ||
| 77 | probably having this problem. | ||
| 78 | |||
| 79 | --//-- | ||
| 80 | LocalWords: ftape PCI bios GAT ISA DMA chipset Mbps Kbps FDC isa AF ok ASUS | ||
| 81 | LocalWords: SP linebuffer masterbuffer XPS http www com | ||